Smoking may diminish the speed and accuracy of your thinking and bring down your IQ.
The association was a surprising result of a study of more than 170 men that initially set out to examine alcoholism's long-term effect on the brain. While it was confirmed that alcoholism is associated with thinking problems and lower IQ, analysis showed that long-term smoking has similar effects.
The effects were most pronounced among those who had smoked the longest.
It is no mystery that smoking is not good for you, but amazingly it is not the primary lifestyle haibt I encourage people to change initially. It is my strong belief that consuming sugar and trans fat are far worse for your long-term health.
However, you still should seek to stop smoking--once you have your diet under control. If you fail to do this you risk making your health actually worse. I helped my sister stop smoking 20 years ago and did not understand this process--she gained over 100 pounds and still has yet to lose any of it. So even though she has not smoked for 20 years she has had the challenge of insulin resistance for those 20 years, which has seriously damaged her health.
This study provides yet nother reason, apart from the enormous and real cost of smoking to your pocketbook and health, to avoid tobacco.
If you're not at all concerned about your own health, consider the effect smoking has on your kids and how it will make them more prone to pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung diseases.
One of the best ways to quit smoking is through complete abstinence, not gradual reduction. But that can be tough for anyone. There are many effective strategies out there for working with addictions, but I find the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), the energy psychology tool I use in my practice, to be most effective.